LUNENBURG -- The investigation into who spray-painted racist graffiti on the home of an eighth-grade student will look outside the confines of football players after the entire team was cleared by police of any wrongdoing Monday.

Lunenburg Police Chief James Marino issued a statement Monday afternoon, saying that based on the department's investigation to date, "we have not found any conclusive evidence linking any present member of the Lunenburg High School football team to the hate crime."

Isaac Phillips, a 13-year-old eighth-grader playing on the freshman-football team at Lunenburg High School woke up Nov. 15 to find the phrase "Knights don't need n******" on the foundation of their home on Chase Road. Lunenburg's team nickname is the Blue Knights.

His family said he had been targeted before, including having his cleats doused in water and thrown in the trash and his bike tire slashed.

It was also determined this was not the only time the N-word had been used by Lunenburg High athletes. School officials determined it was used in two separate football games against Worcester South.

As a result, the team was forced to forfeit the remaining games in its season, including its annual Thanksgiving Eve game against St. Bernard's Central Catholic High School.

Phillips has since transferred to a middle school in Leominster. His parents have stopped communicating with the media, school administration and police under the advisement of an attorney, according to his mother, Andrea Brazier.

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"This statement relates only to the graffiti painted on a resident's home and has nothing whatsoever to do with any football-game-related issues that have been investigated by the school district," Marino's statement reads.

It continues, "We take matters such as this type of hate crime very serious. Consequently, this investigation is ongoing, and we are very confident that a conclusion will be forthcoming."

The FBI and the District Attorney's Office have been working with the Lunenburg police, and federal hate-crime charges have not been ruled out.

A handful of parents gathered outside the public-safety building Monday afternoon after the news broke.

Tom Johnson, whose son plays on the team, said he had a feeling last week that this news would be coming out eventually, and was excited to see the team's name cleared.

Les Szabady, whose son, Danny, is a senior captain of the team, said he couldn't be happier with the outcome, even though he felt it should have been determined before the Thanksgiving Eve game was canceled.

"I think this is great news," Szabady said. "We came down here as soon as we heard. I wish it happened last week, but I'm just glad the team was cleared. When we came out of that School Committee meeting at the high school, my son was bawling. So were so many of the kids. They were treated unfairly."

There were other ways to handle the situation, he said, including waiting until the investigation was completed before forfeiting the remaining football games.

"The School Committee and the superintendent let us down," he said, referring to Superintendent of Schools Loxi Jo Calmes' decision, supported by the committee, to forfeit the games.

Szabady said people are being more careful now about what they say and do because the pool of potential suspects is diminished.

"We all know they know who did this after this conclusion," he said of police. "You have to be careful about what you say."

Johnson said he's not expecting an apology from the School Committee or Calmes for canceling the Thanksgiving Eve game.

"It wouldn't be true. It would be fake," he said.

John Marra, a 1986 alumnus of Lunenburg High and a former member of the football team, said Calmes and the School Committee were too quick to jump to conclusions.

"I'm happy that the teams have been cleared," Marra said. "I think that the administration and leaders of the town came to such a snap decision before having all the facts and information they are supposed to."

Marra said the mission of the school district, according to its website, is to prepare students for lifelong learning and responsible community membership, but this case doesn't help them achieve either of those goals.

"Where was that when they jumped on the bus and rolled these kids over before it got out of control?" he said. "For those seniors, it's their last time for them they will probably play any type of organized football. Now they're only remembrance is a flag-football game."

Members of the team gathered at the turf field at the high school to play a flag-football game amongst each other. Marra said that while he appreciates the team wanting to get together and play one more time, they should have been allowed to play their game against St. Bernard's.

"You ask any kid if that game means something, it does," he said of the Thanksgiving rivalry. "Some adult took that away on speculation. She ran a report, the police ran a report. The FBI did its investigation. She could have put the game back on."

Marra added that the district took an extreme measure before giving anyone on the team a chance to confess to doing something wrong.

"She could have sat down with the team and coaches and played the tough parent, and said they would have 24 hours to confess," he said of Calmes. "She never gave those kids any sort of opportunity to do anything if they were a part of it."

He said if it had been someone on the team, the truth would have come out, especially if more than one student had been involved.

"If there was a member of the team who did it, they should have been turned over," he said. "You have a group of kids between the age of 13 and 17 who can barely keep their rooms clean. Most teenagers can't keep their mouths shut."

In all likelihood, he said, this was a teachable lesson for the district that got out of control. He said that if parents of players had known what was going on and had any inclination their child had been involved, they would have done the right thing.

"Mom and dad are going to notice their kid is acting differently and behaving differently, and someone will say, 'What's going on?'" he said. "What turned out to be a joke didn't happen that way. No respectable parent would let their kid not do anything. They're more than likely going to march that kid to the police station."

Ultimately, he said, the whole situation could have been avoided if it had been handled in an appropriate manner instead of just assuming one group of students had been involved.

"I think there could have been other avenues they could have used before they went to the extreme," Marra said.

Calmes issued a statement Monday saying she is hopeful the appropriate people will be brought to justice.

"We hope for a speedy resolution to the police investigation," she wrote. "The educators and coaches of Lunenburg value diversity, tolerance, and acceptance. We are a community of educators who care deeply about all of our students. Our concern for the safety, well-being, and education of our students and players continues to be our top priority."

Varsity football head coach Steve Boone said Monday that because it is still considered an active investigation, he could not make any comments on his current players being cleared.

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